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There are a lot of books and manuals out there that offer tips on how to improve your writing—a quick internet search turns up over 200,000 titles. How to choose? As you continue to develop your writing skills, you will likely discover guides that reflect the voice, style, and level of formality you’re looking for in your own writing. To get started, you might want to check out any of the three titles below. These books advocate the kind of writing we like best: clear, direct, and accessible (which should not be mistaken for colorless, plain, and boring). If you would like more specific recommendations, such as manuals for academic, business, blog, screenplay, fiction, travel, or sports writing, drop us a line.

William Zinsser, On Writing Well
Jacques Barzun, Simple and Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers
John R. Trimble, Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing

We get a lot of inquiries from international clients who have questions about resumes. If you’re unfamiliar with the application process, or if English is not your native language, composing a resume and communicating with prospective employers can indeed be daunting. Here are a few very general tips to get you started.

Your resume should not be any longer than one page, especially if you are a new graduate or have less than ten years of work experience. Employers receive dozens (sometimes hundreds) of applications for one posting, and want to be able to see your relevant information at a glance. There are a few exceptions to this one-page rule, such as for academic or high-level executive jobs, but overall, one page is all you need.

Don’t cram a bunch of information onto that one page, either. It’s important to leave a lot of white space for readability. Employers are unlikely to wade through a resume packed with tiny text and unnecessary detail.

Don’t send the same basic resume with every application; tailor your resume to each specific job. Study the job requirements and qualifications listed in the job posting, and play up your relevant experience in your resume. This is especially true if you include an objective in your resume. A generic objective filled with buzzwords (“optimize,” “incentivize”) is sure to land your resume in the reject pile.

Stay away from fancy fonts and formatting, which do not hold up when you send your resume electronically. Keep it simple.

Include sections for relevant work experience, education, and special skills. Many applicants start off with a “qualifications summary,” which highlights the most relevant skills and experience that make you a good candidate for the job. If you include a qualifications summary, do not repeat the same information later in the resume.

Resumes used to include personal information, such as your age and whether you are married or have children. This isn’t done anymore. If you do want to include personal information, such as volunteer work or organizations you belong to, make sure it is relevant to the job.

Instead of using valuable space to list your references, include a line at the bottom saying “References available on request.” You should prepare a separate document listing your references’ names and contact info, and have it ready to immediately send if the employer asks.

Proofread your resume carefully. Having mistakes or typos in your resume is the fastest, surest way to have it end up in the reject pile.

If you are unhappy with a service or product you’ve spent money on, writing a complaint letter or email can be an effective way to resolve the problem. When composing a complaint letter, keep the following tips in mind.

Make sure your tone is professional and reasonable. Even if you are quite angry, try to restrain your emotions. Think of your own reactions to people who are angry and insulting; you are probably less likely to want to help.

Be specific and get to the point. The person reading your letter is likely as busy as you are, and it will be helpful for you to make the problem immediately clear. Include the date of purchase or service, as well as a brief explanation of the problem. Enclose a copy of your receipt.

Suggest a resolution. Do you want your money back? Store credit? A replacement product? Let the reader know. Choose a time frame in which you expect to hear back with a solution (usually 1-2 weeks). Mention that you will contact a consumer protection agency if you do not receive a response.

Below is an example of an effective complaint letter. If you were sending an email instead, you would not include your address, the date, and the business address before the body of the text.

If you need any assistance in composing or editing your letter, let us know!

I have had the pleasure of stopping at your lovely café several times over the last two years. I have always enjoyed the charming atmosphere, friendly service, and impressive selection of delicious teas. However, my most recent experience with your business was most unpleasant indeed.

I came in on February 16, 2012 and purchased your Deluxe Tea Starter gift box for my mother’s birthday, which ordinarily would have been an ideal present. I am sorry to report that when my mother opened the box, dozens of large roaches crawled out. This naturally was not the birthday surprise I had envisioned.

When I called your store to complain, the manager I spoke with, Vivian Thomas, told me that unless I had photographs of the roaches in the box, there was nothing she could do. Unfortunately, I made no further headway with Ms. Thomas.

Thus, I am writing directly to you to request reimbursement for the cost of the gift box. I understand that the roaches likely originated from your supplier and not your store; nevertheless, I did not intend for my $134.99 to be spent on a box of filthy insects.

Please find a copy of my receipt enclosed. I hope to receive a satisfactory response from you by March 12, 2012, or I will be compelled to contact the Better Business Bureau. I appreciate your attention to this issue.

"Good writing is like a windowpane," says George Orwell, and we agree heartily. He means that good writing is clear and unadorned, so the meaning is easily accessible to the reader. Sure, a little decorative drapery is always a nice touch, but there is no need for heavy Victorian curtains, tassels, flower boxes, bird feeders, and wind chimes all hanging out at the same window. Best to let the writing speak for itself instead of barraging the reader with loads of distracting flourishes.

Orwell is best known for Animal Farm and 1984, but you can see many other examples of his clear, direct writing style in his other works as well. Check out "Shooting an Elephant," for example, an essay that brings significant emotional impact to the reader precisely because of its directness.

For examples of terrible, overwrought, jargon-laden writing, see The Postmodernism Generator. This is a hilarious site that uses a computer program to generate text that may sound smart but is actually completely meaningless. Enjoy!

Business writing has a variety of purposes: to deliver information to colleagues and customers, to persuade investors to get on board, and to generate brand awareness and sales. In all cases, the writing should be clear and concise, not overblown and self-important. Unfortunately, business documents tend to be filled with bloated phrases and confusing jargon. For example, consider the sentence, “WeCanWriteThat.com was incepted in order to facilitate the client’s optimization of textual efficacy through the utilization of contextually relevant production and enhancement.” Yuck.

Such a sentence serves only to stroke the writer’s ego and alienate the reader, who ends up lost in a sea of abstractions, attempting to translate the sentence into plain English to understand its intended meaning. Most readers just aren’t going to bother, though; would you? An employee is likely to take a stab at it before filing it away largely unread, and a customer is likely to leave your site and find one that makes plain sense. The goal of all writing should be clear communication of ideas. That’s why, instead of that garbled mess above, we prefer to write, “WeCanWriteThat.com is here to help you create and edit effective business, academic, and personal documents.”

Perhaps you are concerned that simple writing doesn’t make you sound smart or impressive enough. However, clients and co-workers don’t want to be awed by your massive vocabulary, forced to track down the message hidden inside cloudy sentences that don’t mean anything concrete. Your colleagues are busy people. Your customers have numerous companies competing for their time and attention. Tell them what they need to know, simply and directly, and everybody wins.

The way to becoming a better writer is exactly the same as the way to becoming a better anything. If you wanted to excel at basketball, you would practice, right? And learn the ins and outs of the game, and read up on strategy, and so on.

If you want to be a better writer, the best thing to do is read more, and read actively. Reading actively allows you to notice the rhythms of language, as well as get a feel for the way punctuation works. The reading material doesn’t need to be anything complicated, either. If you already subscribe to your favorite magazine, for example, start reading it more closely, and notice sentence structure variety, organization, how the intro leads into the body, and so on. You might be surprised at how much you pick up about writing just by paying careful attention to the words themselves.

In conjunction with active reading, you will need to practice writing in order to improve. There are all kinds of writing prompts available on the web, from creative writing to journal writing and more. Choose one that interests you and start writing. You will notice that, over time, the combination of close reading and regular writing practice will indeed improve your skills.

Having creative freedom with a research assignment is a mixed blessing. On one hand, you’re free to come up with your own topic and ideas. On the other hand, you must come up with your own topic and ideas! Many students feel overwhelmed without specific assignment criteria to adhere to.

If the assignment is truly wide open and you do not have to incorporate specific class material (like a basic research project for a composition class, for example), you should start with ten minutes of freewriting. Answer the questions, “What interests me?” “What am I good at?” And, “What could I teach someone else about?” Maybe you will end up with answers like skateboarding or music, which may not seem like they would lead to scholarly research. But the truth is, you can write a scholarly paper on just about any topic. We have seen excellent research papers on such topics as the logistics of opening a public skate park; the history, development, and cross-cultural significance of hip-hop; and the literary merits of Twitter. So don’t be afraid to be creative!

Of course, you should run your proposed topic by your professor to make sure he or she is on board. And we can help you too, from planning to research to writing to proofing the final copy.

It’s always an honor to be chosen as best man or maid of honor at a wedding, but it also comes with some anxiety. Fear of public speaking is extremely common, so those nerves are understandable. Just remember, the point of the toast is to celebrate the couple, not to embarrass them!

You can include some funny, personal stories that illustrate your bond over the years, since everyone loves a good story. Still, be sure not to speak for too long. Three to five minutes is plenty long enough, as you will see when you’re up there delivering your toast.

Practice your speech a few times before delivering it, but make sure you don’t read straight from a piece of paper; this can seem rote, and often the delivery is flat. Instead, write down your main points on note cards to help prompt your memory.

If you just can’t find the right words, let us know! Give us some information about the happy couple, and we will craft an original, personalized speech that will leave the wedding guests alternately laughing and reaching for tissues.

We are so excited to officially present your one-stop writing shop, We Can Write That! Our team has been working hard on the site for months, and our staff and writers are ready to help you. Many of us have been working successfully as freelancers for years (as evidenced by our testimonials), and we have now joined forces to provide you with the finest custom writing experience possible. We may be new, but we strive to be the best, with excellent, highly-qualified and experienced writers, as well as stellar customer service.

Unlike our competitors, who are limited in the varieties of writing services they offer, We Can Write That is available for all your writing needs, whether they are academic, professional, or personal. We will adhere to your specific instructions and create a custom document just for you.

Please check our blog regularly for writing tips, special offers, and updates. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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Thank you for helping me edit and format my latest proposal for an important client. It was very well received, thanks to you in large part. You were very easy to work with and I appreciated your attention to detail. I will definitely use your services again.